It's like watching penguins in an Attenborough documentary turning from ungainly waddlers into torpedoes. [Issue#397, p.114]

The conservative setting and lack of an engaging storyline may do little to excite RTS veterans but, in its ruleset, Ruse expands upon the genre in a way that goes beyond gimmick. [Oct 2010, p.95]

If the narrative wrapper hardly registers while you're playing, the incidental dialogue can be quite witty. [Issue#377, p.121]

Compared to its Wii counterpart - as generic a movie-licensed collect 'em up as you'll see - the DS version is swollen with ideas. [Apr 2010, p.98]

Eastshade may not be the game it could be, but it paints a picture many others could learn from. [Issue#330, p.122]

It now feels in need of a shake up to make it bounce back instead of producing yet another diminished return. [Jan 2007, p.75]

Rather than a criticism, however, the lingering feeling is a testament to the sense of wonder Abzu instills in the player, the feeling of grand adventure it manages to conjure in its short runtime, and the appeal of its enigmatic world. [Oct 2016, p.108]

This welcome focus on spectacle – and the highly recognisable cast – makes Injustice more accessible than most modern fighting games, but there’s plenty to appeal to seasoned players.

What at first feels more like a Benny Hill chase reveals itself to be another fine reinvention of this classic. [Nov 2016, p.112]

Unforgettable. [Oct 2015, p.108]

The presentation is as characterful as you would expect from London Studio, it's welcoming to newcomers to the EyeToy, or even to gaming in general, and the navigation system has been much improved, responding snappily to your commands.

Shadowkeep delivers on our expectations, giving us more of the things about Destiny we like, while reminding us that nostalgia ain't what it used to be. [Issue#139, p.106]

With all the colour and oddness Date Everything musters, it can't overcome the fact that it treats its characters like objects. [Issue#413, p.122]

Without the brutal challenge, it's a game that will take mere hours to finish and even fewer to forget. [May 2010, p.101]

The plot lacks the slight unpleasantness that tinted Wright's best cases. There are still killers, but their motivations are more straightforward. [Mar 2010, p.98]

Pac-Man Vs could hardly have barer bones. No options, no game modes and no high-score tables are included here, and as a consequence there's nothing here to dilute the strength of the original idea or the subtle excellence of its execution. [Feb 2004, p.103]

If it's judged only on its atmosphere, weapons, and the amount of killing it portrays from behind the wheel, this expansion hits the bullseye. If Techland can fill in all the bits missing in between, its next project could be something special indeed. [April 2016, p.114]

Think of it like fast-forwarding through an action movie past all the poorly written dialogue to get to the good bits. [Issue#367, p.112]

Titan Quest’s hyper-realism is, at least when above ground, dazzlingly picturesque, with lighting so natural you expect there to be an elemental resistance for sunburn. [Aug 2006, p.84]

An enthralling title on its own terms, and, given the bombastic direction of its Clancy-game brethren, probably the closest fans will get to true tactics for some time.

It's the Excitebots themselves that disappoint most, so drearily conceived that they make the predecessor's humble trucks look like flaming DeLoreans. [July 2009, p.100]

Whatever the project's origins, the result is a thrilling blend of ideas, a game that, despite its fashionable and familiar components, feels wholly unprecedented. Moreover, Nightreign firmly establishes the studio's designers as not only masters of their own domain, but now a new, hitherto undiscovered realm. [Issue#412, p.100]

Could Nintendo have made similar cuts, sliced out singleplayer, and left us with the perfect party game? The shadow of missed opportunity occasionally looms over Nintendo Land, but as with any good theme park, there are moments where you'll yell, scream and laugh yourself silly. Just add friends.

A level design and stylistic triumph but often a frustrating puzzler for the wrong reasons, They Need To Be Fed 2 is a good iOS game. But it could become a great game if it mimicked its hero and jumped to other platforms.

Its magpie picking of influences leaves it with too little personality of its own, and comparisons with its sources are often unflattering. Still, it boasts scale, action and variety that make it a welcome addition to PS3's multiplayer roster.

Its flaws are downplayed in the context of its range, its humour, its oddities, and its alternately psychopathic and pandering NPCs. It's as unusual as it is conventional. [Nov 2008, p.99]

Whereas our appetite for entertainment is such that we happily consume similar amusements again and again, we have to ask if we really need to learn these lessons twice. [Sept 2007, p.97]

Nimble Quest is cute and compelling, but it’s also a cynical complication of a classic design.

Above all, there's something fortifying in the game's message, however awkwardly it's delivered: keep walking; there's always a way out of the darkness. [Issue#412, p.114]

Mega Man 9 might try to fit in the ‘retro cool’ category, but really it’s just retro: and that’s much less of a safe bet than Space Invaders T-shirts and Pac-Man keyrings. [Dec 2008, p.94]

Though 2K Czech's operation doesn't run entirely smoothly, there's a definite spark of potential and the roots of an abandoned attempt to engineer something more than throwaway entertainment. [Oct 2010, p.90]

This is not, as it needed to be, the Pro Evo of mixed martial arts. [Dec 2010, p.94]

Perhaps, in this fastest of genres, it’s simply six months too late...in a race with "Forza Motorsport 2," "PGR4," "Dirt" and even the likes of "MotoGP '07," there’s the unmistakeable feel that Sega Rally’s been superseded before it leaves the grid. [Nov 2007, p.89]

It is, of course, more of the same, but the concept is as compulsive as ever. [Jan 2004, p.107]

There's a certain amount of wit and flair evident throughout Hoodlum Havoc's cut-scenes, and there are certainly some very slick production values. The problem is that, in terms of raw enjoyment, the game is somehow underwhelming. [May 2003, p.104]

Super Monkey Ball had the sad fate of being born perfect, which means that, ever since that GameCube launch title, the series has been competing with memory. Not even a spin dash will get you past that. [Issue#400, p.120]

Once guns are acquired you feel less helpless, but the combat is awkward with enemies reacting poorly to hits and a compulsory manual reload that is ponderous beyond belief. In trying to make the game realistic, Headfirst has grievously shot itself in the foot. [Dec 2005, p.112]

The bunker thus feels genuinely coherent as a place, and alongside a vividly oppressive monster, that's enough to ensure this latest bout of Amnesia is one we won't easily forget. [Issue#386, p.114]

There's a great 20-hour romp to be had in Brothership, but you may have to give it a bit of a wiggle to find it. [Issue#405, p.110]

ArmA 2 isn’t just dogmatic and unforgiving – it’s also very awkward in its construction and the weight of its ambition frequently proves too much for the sometimes-brilliant main campaign to pull off. Nonetheless, its vast, detailed world and unapologetic dynamism turn the game from sandbox to snowglobe – something you can’t resist shaking up just to see how it looks.

Mechanically, it's fantastic. Structurally, it's a mess and a missed opportunity, designed in direct contradiction to its developer's stated ambition. [April 2016, p.98]

The title is just painfully apt: never has a free-roaming structure brought so little to improve the quality of a game's world. The mooted open-ended environments of Tony Hawk's American Wasteland feel like a fallacy, a bleak repackaging for hocking the game to a jaded audience. [Dec 2005, p.107]

This isn't a deep game by any means, but it's colourful, noisy, and approaches iOS's limitations with cunning.

In the end, we're rather glad we stuck our beaks in. [Issue#351, p.102]

One of the year's finest grid-based strategy games, a steely and engrossing work of calculation. [Issue#349, p.102]

Far more polished than its ragged forebear. [Aug 2009, p.100]

The locales in Life is Strange feel much less like rigidly framed theatrical scenes and more like real places. [March 2015, p.102]

What it lacks in personality it makes up for in solid mechanics and slick execution, and should do any tactical fanatic proud. [July 2006, p.90]

This is melee done right, set in an astonishing world, brimming with imagination. [July 2009, p.101]

For such a costly flagship title to provide neither the promised statement of mainstream grown-up appeal nor even polished, lesser disposable thrills is a landmark failure. [May 2006, p.92]

QuBit is only held back by itself: as a linear drive-into-things score attack game, it's a great one. But it never quite unfolds in the way that the very greatest do – a Space Giraffe or Geometry Wars – to reveal layer after layer of variation.

Another slight VR release that serves as an excellent proof of concept but disappoints by not following through. [Feb 2017, p.120]

It's this beautiful mess of strategic genius and personality defects that elevates Wild Bastards to the pantheon of truly great hybrid roguelikes, managing to do for the FPS what Spelunky did for platforming, and Slay The Spire for deckbuilders. [Issue#403, p.116]

Humankind isn't lacking in competence. This is a decent historical strategy with some of the best city building outside of dedicated games such as Cities: Skylines. But it would benefit from greater confidence in its central ideas; rather than seeking to ape Civilization, it could be more inventive. [Issue#363, p.110]

The result is competent and complex, but not convincing enough to raise any significant emotion other than impatience. It feels like a clockwork approximation of football, lacking the grace, variety and scope of FIFA.

For all Raven's efforts with temporal gimmicks, this is a game which is stuck in the FPS past – but, perversely, in its gun-metal and gore, in its most archaic respects, Raven proves it can just about stand the test of time.

Heaven knows we've played thousands of forgettable videogame stories over the years, so perhaps the best tribute we can pay to the departed developer is this: EDGE will remember it. [Issue#332, p.116]

As a whole, it just doesn't hang together as seamlessly as we'd hoped. [Issue#139, p.112]

Fascinating. [Issue#382, p.110]

A lender and borrower with a few ideas of its own, Kami Retro's not quite perfect, but is worth a hundred more generic clones.

When Before the Storm embraces its individuality, it produces stunning moments. [Issue#315, p.106]

Tomodachi Life proves beguiling and boring in equal measure. [Issue#424, p.110]

A couple of murderous boss battles spike the difficulty level during the second half, but what occurs for the most part is a largely cyclical, if inspired and infectious routine. [Dec 2006, p.83]

Still, we reflect, while launching all our problems into the sea one by one, it makes a nice change from pointing and shooting. [Issue#387, p.120]

This pulpy provocation has more than enough ideas to take root in your own monkey brain. [Issue#391, p.121]

Crucially, we never lose our will to continue. [Issue#410, p.114]

This is a game of contradictions, then. It's an impressive exercise in mystery construction that often cringes at its own geeky strengths, masking its intelligence behind juvenile posturing. But at the same time its technical shortcomings rob it of that swagger, its anime stylings lacking the gloss you'd expect from the cocksure tone. Much can be forgiven when you're submerged in its waterlogged crimes, but you never quite shake the sense that Master Detective Archives is raining on its own parade. [Issue#387, p.118]

Not much here could be called outstanding - if we're hyper-critical, even though the game's visualisation of Japanese myth is a treat, it's not one we haven't sampled before. While there's a decent brew here, then, it doesn't refresh like a really good cupa. [Issue#400, p.116]

Motorstorm has a special relationship with chaos, and if you can keep your head when all about you are throwing their controllers, you're just as likely to lose. Less battle than survival racing, it's happy to let fairness be a stain on the tarmac. [Apr 2011, p.95]

As a place, Los Angeles simply isn't as much fun as Liberty or Vice. Too much of this silicon LA exists simply because the designers wanted to show that it could be done rather than because it serves any gameplay purpose. [Christmas 2003, p.107]

A detailed and intelligent fraud: a slice of cool, corporate entertainment for an audience that probably sees no contradiction within that notion. [Oct 2010, p.98]

By far the most slickly produced and gorgeously rendered version of the series, the pacing this time around is even more fluid than its predecessors – less an open-ended matter of hide and seek, and more focused on the stylish, dramatic pursuit and capture that its TV and silver-screen themes would seem to require. [Oct 2005, p.89]

Arlo may have the grimace and mane of Geralt, but his game needs to be more than a series of narrow squeaks. [Issue#408, p.118]

Isn't a hard game, but it is occasionally a taxing one. [Sept 2012, p.108]

While it doesn't always gel in a way that feels genuinely new, there are enough successful unfamiliar concepts here to make Quantum Break feel like a step forward for Remedy. [June 2016, p.100]

It's to Super Crush KO's credit that, after rattling through its brief but bouncy campaign, we immediately dive back in for another crack at perfecting our high scores. It is some of the best gaming junk food around: moreish although not particularly nutritious, best enjoyed in small moments of convenience and often while watching something else. [Issue#342, p.116]

Takes great pride in its science-fiction absurdities and provides a genuinely entertaining skirmish game for those who still hanker for the base-building battles of old. [Feb 2008, p.94]

A game that is not only at its best when played with other humans, but is critically dependent on them. [Issue#344, p.112]

This dark world - frequently illuminated by its eccentric characters and cheeky dialogue - is so captivating that the slight loss of late-game momentum is easily forgiven. [Issue#399, p.114]

It's much like Twitter itself - raucous and ridiculous, funny but infuriating. [Apr 2015, p.122]

Open about the toys you can play with in the final stages of research, strategy in Supreme Commander 2 is pure – worked out before the battle begins and maintained as a line under your tactical moves.

The only occasionally clumsy element in Surge Deluxe’s otherwise efficiently streamlined processes is you – or, rather, your big fat finger. Tracing lines between blocks obscures the screen, which can make quick, precise movements difficult, especially between narrow gaps.

With the episodic development cycle all but demanding that structure and form be locked down in the first instalment, with content added thereafter, the series' future looks precarious at best. [June 2008, p.90]

Had the level design have been a touch more ingenious, and the creatures exhibited more guile, this could have been memorable. [June 2004, p.106]

A wonderfully honest game that points out how important it is to acknowledge the hole, but reminds us that, at the end of the day, it's what's - and who's - around it that counts. [Nov 2018, p.121]

Yes, it's a little light on content, but what's in there is delightful, accessible, intuitive, playful stuff. From the off it's fun and, before long, it becomes oddly magical, too. Over time, it may become wondrous. At launch it will just have to settle for being merely excellent, and yet another standard bearer for Nintendo's new console. That, we suppose, is really the most important thing about ARMS. [Aug 2017, p.102]

Rebellion's not reinventing the wheel, then, but there's an admirable clarity of focus here from a studio clearly confident in its handiwork. [Issue#373, p.116]

The title is just painfully apt: never has a free-roaming structure brought so little to improve the quality of a game's world. The mooted open-ended environments of Tony Hawk's American Wasteland feel like a fallacy, a bleak repackaging for hocking the game to a jaded audience. [Dec 2005, p.107]

If we seem grumpy about the third act, that's largely because the first two promise so much. [Issue#358, p.118]

Working out how the game works and how to best profit from your stocks takes an hour’s play, and from then on, it’s no longer about thinking creatively, just economising ruthlessly. Satisfying perhaps, but hardly demanding. [Christmas 2006, p.88]

While Genesis may already be fading from our memory, those looking for nothing more than 15 hours or so of punchy, demon-slaying action will no doubt have an appropriate response. It matters not. [Issue#342, p.110]

The framework is here for a truly great game, then, but it's the need to lengthen - and, for some players, monetise - the campaign that stops ShortRound's debut from living up to its obvious potential.

As smooth and exhilarating a ride as it ever was… MotoGP 3 remains a strong, solid outing for those who enjoy a thoroughly analogue play experience as well as fans of motorbike racing. [Oct 2005, p.98]

If the worst part of war is the waiting, 11-11's writing is often strongest when it's lingering on the mirth, grief and boredom of soldiers before and after the bloodshed. [Jan 2019, p.116]

What was once a pleasing console compromise now seems overly restrictive post-"Knights of the Old Republic." Despite hints of moral choices and a dusting of side-quests, it soon boils down to a straight slog, mashing the 'A' button as you wander through prettily rendered - if largely linear - dungeons. [Feb 2004, p.100]

Here's to more games that dare to shoot for the stars - and to those that, like Genesis Noir, set their sights even higher. [Issue#357, p.112]

For all its incongruousness, it prompts a set-piece so joyous and liberating that it's hard to mind. [Issue#322, p.116]

This cosy, likeable platformer gives 3DS players a superior alternative to Arzest's insipid New Island. [March 2017, p.105]